Unwinding the Immortal Coil

Red eyes watched the side of his head as he spoke. "I wonder if that is why Lady Beryl passed the spirit to me," she murmured, voice catching as her throat tightened. The idea it might happen to her, that it had happened to Feng—her chest ached, like her ribs were too small for the heart inside.

Here was a man who had not chosen to become numb, but made that way by untold ages he should never have witnessed. If he couldn't die, she wanted to at least give him a chance to experience joy and fun again. Far from the ideal candidate to offer it to him and full aware of it, she hugged his shoulders with a small trill as she rolled her shoulders, trying not to let her sadness for his state choke her.

She wanted to, and felt she had to, say something. Her throat felt so tight, though. The only thing that emerged was something like a bird's cry of sorrow before her throat closed completely.
 
Feng was unable to catch what the girl was mumbling about but didn't quite miss her sudden silence and odd noises. Maybe he had sounded a bit too depressing? Not that he had intended for it. He had just stated the facts about immortality. Even though he still could remember times when emotions had been great in him, he couldn't understand why people were feeling that way nowadays. Even his own emotional actions in his memories perplexed him sometimes. The further back he remembered, the less he could understand himself.

"Don't pity those who do not pity themselves. The people who grieve the past are fools, those who look to their future in search for something better are those who succeed. I look forward, thus the past does not hurt me." He told her, hoping she wouldn't start crying on him. He wasn't good at handling crying women. Never had been. At least not as far as he could remember. The future he saw for himself was not one most people would seek out, actually almost everyone tried to escape it. Feng on the other hand was more than ready to welcome death as an old friend.

A foul odor hit them and Feng wrinkled his nose. "Ah, seems like we've reached the sewer." At least he didn't gag. The first time he had been walking around sewers when they were recently created, the smell had gotten him quite hard. "There should be an opening not far from here, but it's probably right at the outskirt of town, so we should probably wait for the one after that before taking a look on the surface." He proposed. They would be easier targets when they had no buildings to hide behind.
 
Feng's words, possibly intended as reassurance, seemed far too optimistic to come from someone like him. Still, her own throat choked her, and she couldn't communicate more exactly what she felt. She wasn't sure if it even was pity, but what he said irritated her and felt all the sadder because she knew what he sought in the future. Tears formed and slid, but no sobs could escape.

Her throat's tightness and tear-snotted nose didn't allow her to catch the scent of the sewers. Feng's introduction to them did allow her to understand their current location, to an extent, and she nodded her agreement. He was the expert on this place, and trusted enough by Kina. He'd annoyed her on their first meeting, but with Kina's trust in him and how easily he took the Hunter's request to protect Jade, she felt herself starting to trust him as well, at least that he wouldn't turn her over to the people who'd blatantly used and then shot at him. She hoped.

Distracted from the sadness she felt for him, her throat finally eased open, and she inhaled sharply before she finally spoke. "I will trust you to take the wisest course of action, Lord Feng." Her voice sounded strained, but this time she spoke loud enough for him to hear her.
 
Feng stayed silent for a few moments before replying. "That's the kind of mentality that gets one stabbed in the back." He warned her. Trust should not be given to anyone. It's impossible to know who will betray you and who won't. "And stop calling me lord. Or immortal. Or anything. Feng is enough, there's no reason to add anything in front of it. No traveler in any era has ever gotten any prefix in front of their names, if they even got their name spoken at all."

Not that he always stayed a traveler. There had been a few moments when he settled down somewhere as a lord, or a God, but those were rare and far between each other. Now a days he doubted that he could fool people into believing him to be a God though. Maybe a small amount of people. The Mayans got the idea that he was a God because he was immortal, and he was pronounced to be the reborn God Itzamna, the God of agriculture and education. It was especially his medical skills that made them think of that God.

Suddenly Feng stopped and hushed slightly to make sure Jade didn't question him. He put her down on the ground and made a movement with his hand to show her that she should stay there. If she had missed it the first time, she could probably hear a footstep this time when they weren't walking. Feng sneaked up towards the edge of the stone wall, waiting until the person came closer to the corner. Soon they could see a light coming closer, so the person did have an oil lamp or at the very least a candle. The person finally got around the corner and Feng quickly put an arm around the man's throat, making sure he couldn't move without getting his neck broken.

"H..Hey man, take it easy." The man cough.

"Oh, it's just you." Feng said, releasing Joe. It could have been unifiers, it could have been angry townsmen still wanting to lynch him for what happened at the bar, or it could have just been a worker, but it was neither, it was just Joe, the little liar. "What are you doing down here? I know you're called underground Joe, but this was not what I had in mind when they nicknamed you that." Even for a rat like him, being down there was rather unusual.

"The same thing as you I assume. Didn't think you had found out about it since you were still hooked at the forest. Tch, and I thought I could get this one to myself." Joe grumbled annoyed.

"Found out? Found out about what?" Feng asked, his interest peaked. Joe looked at him, now understanding that the man had not been down there for the reasons he had assumed.

"So you don't know. Well then I guess I will have it for myself. Not that you can find your way down here anyways." He chuckled with his stupid nasal voice. Feng rolled his eyes and grabbed the skinny little man, forcing him up the wall.

"Listen up rat, if you don't want me to drown and resurrect you a ten or so times before your body finally gives in for good, you better start talking." Feng threatened him with a calm voice.

"OKay okay, the unapproachable forest, there's a thing like that down here, there's a part of the cave no one can enter. I've tried dozens of times, but I always find myself walking in the wrong direction at some point even though I know the way. I.. I can give you a map if you want, just don't hurt me." The man whimpered. He was such a coward. Always playing tough to get the money, but once someone became a slight bit aggressive he quickly gave in.

"That would definitely be appreciated old friend." Feng said, putting the man down. "Make sure to have it ready the next time we meet."

With that he left the man who quickly hurried away, not even noticing the woman Feng had been with.

"I guessed you might want that map. Don't worry, he has an established illegal business in this town, he won't abandon it and he know he can't hide even if he wants to, so letting him go for now isn't a problem." He reassured her, thinking she might object to letting the man go if he had information they might need. "For now, shall we continue and find your hunters already?" He proposed and leaned down again for her to get up on his back once more.
 
The tiny woman wanted to object, but Feng hushed her as he stopped. Not one to be too petty, Jade remained quiet. She leaned carefully against the wall of the cavern to stay upright as he set her down, and Feng concerned himself with the footstep and its owner.

Underground Joe, it seemed. The name didn't particularly catch her interest, but Feng's interest did. She watched and listened. She felt for Joe as Feng offered his threats, but she didn't have the luxury of showing compassion at the moment, because soon after, the topic drew her interest.

A forest that couldn't be entered—the trap. There was part of the cave that was the same. It had to be the real Unifier outpost, possibly linked to the one in the forest to prevent too many casualties.

However, that Feng released him so easily concerned her. She stared at him as he explained, then nodded once in agreement. Without a word of protest, she climbed back onto his offered back. "Yes, Traveler Feng, and apologies for all the titles. It is a compulsion I have been unable to overcome." She settled herself against him. Despite a wish to address the issue of trust, she remained silent on that topic and moved to the interrogation.

"It makes sense there are more here. If the other was a trap, they would have wished an escape route to avoid unneeded casualties. It would have to be nearby," she said with a small nod. "Thank you very much." For his sake, she left mention of his name off her thanks, because he wasn't fond of titles.
 
Traveler Feng? Would that be his new title now? This woman definitely needed to get out into the real world more.

"Considering you're able to jump between dimensions as easily as entering a door, I can't really see the sense in escaping to a place forty minutes away from the first one." He commented. Not that it seemed to take any time at all entering through those portals. How accurate were those things anyways? These guys seemed to be able to get wherever they want in the blink of an eye. The other group must have a similar technique, since if they were stuck in one world and one only, it shouldn't be that hard for people who can get weapons from any time period to take them down.

After having walked in silence for quite a bit of time, Feng finally put Jade down. "We should be somewhere close to town square now." He told her while moving towards the stair that went up to a manholes cover. It took quite a bit of power to just lift it slightly to peek out. "It looks like the coast is clear." Feng told her and opened up the lid completely, letting the daylight in. He had been right, they were close to town square, just a couple of alleyways away.
 
"In truth, Unifier technology for transportation is more limited than my abilities. They are limited by their materials and visibility. They must be within a certain range to operate, and the transportation they intend to use for stealth must be short-range." A hint of pride was audible in her voice, that Unifiers were so limited comparatively. "They are annoyingly clever, though."

The silence lasted, more comfortable than before now that Jade had a chance to adapt to the lack of cacophony within her mind. Her head came to rest against Feng for the rest of the time he carried her, content to ponder what she learned so far of the situation. By now, Headquarters was likely in uproar over her disappearance. Her bodyguard likely wracked with guilt. None could reach her, and she could not reach them, unless her phone somehow worked, and she had yet to hear a sound from it.

By the time Feng set her down, she wanted to make sure her phone was on on the first place, but held off as she watched him climb up and lift the cover. Her pupils rapidly narrowed as the light dazzled her large eyes.

What sort of plan did Feng have now that they were out of the underground? Did he plan to dump her with the nearest Hunter and be done, or to keep with her? She kept those questions silent in her mind as she followed him.
 
Feng looked around in the empty alleyway. Of course they wouldn't be so lucky as to just run into a hunter immediately huh. The quicker this woman got back to her headquarter, the quicker he could stop bothering. It was kind of his fault for going into that trap to begin with, so he was a bit responsible for her until she got back to where she needed to be again.

"I suppose you wouldn't know where they might try to find you?" He asked Jade once she had gotten out of the sewers. "Going out in public would be an easy way of alerting them, but that would also alert the enemy. Plus, I'm not very popular in this town right now, and I'm not up for another lynching this soon after the last one." This soon probably wasn't as soon as others would think it was. Being immortal, the time judgement for soon became longer and longer all the time.
 
The tiny woman pursed her lips, then shook her head. "It is likely they have no idea I am present, so would not think to look for me. Drake is nearest, but may have difficulties with realizing I am the reason that group came into the open."

She sighed quietly as she stretched to reveal a tiny tummy that didn't match what loomed above in the slightest. Granted, nothing quite matched those on her entire body.

"I am afraid going public would not do much, either, unless I was paraded about obviously and rumors spread before the Unifiers could find us. We know where Hunter Drake might still be, but otherwise, I gave orders to spread out and let the intelligence division handle any humans... Which means I have one Hunter in this world who is both in that division and not held captive."

Her volume faded as she spoke, and her gaze fell to the ground with a tiny, childlike glare before she looked toward Feng again.

"Do you know of a place where we might hide long enough for me to attempt contact with one of the Hunters present?"
 
Things just had to be complicated, didn't they? Feng sighed. "Guess my home is as good as any. Not like I'm there enough for anyone to figure out I'm supposedly living there." Feng wasn't the best at getting himself 'home' to sleep. If he was tired, he usually just ended up in the grass where people could easily give him a poke if they noticed him sleeping for an awful long time. It was more convenient since after a couple of days people tended to go make sure that he wasn't dead, thus he woke up sooner than if he was all alone in a silent house. Going back just to cook some food seemed a waste of time, he could cook at whatever spot he was if he just made up a fire, or he could go to a bar. Yup, homes were just a waste on this guy.

He went down on his knees once again, letting the woman place herself on his back. The danger still wasn't over and if they found themselves having to run, it would be best to already be prepared.

They didn't walk long, and soon they found themselves at a small tree house, surrounded by almost identical little houses. He put the woman down and opened the door. The dust was flying everywhere. "Huh, I must have been gone for longer than I thought." He noted before sneezing. There was only one room in the house, quite a big room, but still just one. The bed was small and shoved into a corner, a table stood in the middle, and a little cooking corner was on one side of the wall. And that was it. Well, that and a few clothes lying on the floor here and there. "Guessing it's best not to turn on the oil lamps, just in case." He said, thinking it might be best to not show anyone that someone's home. The one window that let in some light into the tree house was covered in the shadow of another house, thus making it pretty dark inside.

"There should be a bit of food in that cabinet, but... I'm not sure how long it has been lying there so maybe it's best not to eat it if you aren't absolutely starved." Feng told her while closing and locking the door, just in case.
 
Jade settled in against his back again, bust pressed against it and chin rested on his shoulder as she let herself ponder how best to contact one of her Hunters. Feng, it seemed, was disinterested in remaining with her to assist, though she realized such an assumption might not be true. Then again, it might be easier for him to skip town by joining up with the search, if he was so concerned with a lynching for whatever reason.

As he placed her down and opened the door, the breeze from his action stirred dust. Jade lifted her shirt to cover her mouth and nose quickly as she squinted her too-large eyes against the dust.

"I assume you do not use your home very often, if you are uncertain of the state of the food," she remarked with a slight nod. "Thank you for bringing me here. Should attempts at contact go well, I will be 'out of your hair' soon."

She continued to squint an hold her shirt in place as she looked for a corner where she wouldn't light up the window or the door, then stood there and pulled a dark-colored rectangle from a jacket pocket. As she turned on the screen, the light pierced the darkness, and she cursed, then rapidly dimmed it. Temporarily blinded, the girl blinked slowly until her pupils resumed as normal a size they could, given the size of her eyes. Finally, she began to trace her fingers over the screen as her brows furrowed slightly with concentration.

For someone with such small hands, she soon had to release her shirt and use both hands, thumbs on the smooth screen, to type messages once she had a group set up with the Hunters she'd sent in.


I have been trapped on this world and Unifier shields are up. Please report with the passcode promptly. I will need someone to retrieve me. Updates will be sent through this group unless I believe someone within has been compromised. The Unifiers know how to invoke my attention and have used a local civilian for the purpose of attempted capture. I have altered the method to only allow Hunters and known allies.


Once she finished, she sent the message. Her eyes remained glued as the loading icon circled around and around. As her attention followed it, her eyes often lost focus and her lids began to droop.
 
Feng shrugged. "It's too much of a bother going home when I get tired, so I just end up sleeping wherever I am at the time. Other than sleep, I don't really have anything to do here." He explained as he went to the cabinet. Opening it up, he saw some moldy bread, a few old bottles alcohol and way too old potatoes.

"I don't have anything eatable, but the whine should be fine if you're interested." He told her, putting a few bottles on the table. Those never expired as far as he knew.

The woman seemed quite absorbed with her... Whatever that thing was. Even though it looked like she was about to pass out she didn't take her eyes off of it. "Hey, you should probably get some sleep. Take a nap at least. Humans can't think straight when they're tired." Feng said. Well, human might not have been the right word, but he doubted it would be any difference for a half bird. "I'll wake you up if anything happens. I've already slept once this week, I won't start feeling tired for at least another four days." He did faintly remember a time when he did have to sleep every night, though it wasn't for as long as humans did, usually he slept a couple of hours and then he woke up rested. Now a days he didn't sleep as often, but he could sleep for much longer. He didn't wake up just because he was completely rested anymore, which was a bit of a problem. Eight hours of sleep once a week was usually enough, but he tended to sleep until his stomach or someone else woke him up.
 
The girl looked up, then nodded. "Yes, thank you." One final glance, and she sighed, then clicked a button on the side of her phone. Its illumination faded immediately. "It does not appear my typical contact method will work here. Once he comes to his senses, Drake may track us if he catches my scent in this world."

Jade slipped the device into her pocket, then looked toward Feng. "Rest does seem a good idea, since there is not much else I can do this moment. Again, thank you. I have no doubts that without your assistance, the Unifiers would have..."

She trailed off as the realization of just how badly it could have gone, and every repercussion inherent in each possibility. Her safety was tied directly to the safety of not only the Hunters, but all of existence. Her back hit the wall as she stared forward, and her hand slowly lifted to cover her mouth. Died, captured, put into a coma—every possible thing the Unifiers could have done to her, she imagined, and the image of where those led came unbidden.

Everything from her parents being sad to the end of existence in a violent and instant moment where even the afterlife turned to nothingness flashed through her mind. Her expression remained neutral, but her throat tightened and her body grew tense for several moments before she forced herself from the wall. "If you do not plan to use it, I hope you will not mind if I utilize the bed. I think I need to... use the sleep."

Her voice shook slightly as she sat, and dust puffed up about her.
 
Feng did not comment on her silence, though he could imagine what she was thinking about. She might look collected, but that gesture with her hand and the silence did tell a completely different story. He didn't bother snooping into peoples mental state though if they didn't directly talk to him about it and even then he wasn't much interested. He did end up listening to some heartbreaking stories sometimes from drunk idiots in the bar, but that was all he did, listen, and barely even that. It was rare for him to even care to give them advice now a days.

"Knock yourself out, I wouldn't need it even if I decided to sleep." He replied. As the girl dozed off, Feng opened one of the wine bottles and started to halfheartedly enjoy the alcohol. A normal person would probably get alcohol poisoning if they drank everything he had stored in one night, but his body had so far resisted all types of poison. Sure, he could get sick if it was strong enough, for example, he was bitten by a cobra once and was out cold for three days, but eventually he always came around.

His body was able to take care of the alcohol long before he ever noticed the effect though, he could never drink fast enough to even get knocked out. Maybe the world would feel a bit less hopeless if he just were able to get drunk... Seemed to work for all idiots at the bar. One night of drinking and complaining, then a month perfectly comfortable in their own skin before they ended up at the bar again. Except in the random cases when they hung themselves or jumped off a cliff. They were rare, but it happened.
 
"Thank you," she murmured as she slowly slid onto her side. The dust puffed around her, and she closed her eyes tight. Her nose twitched, twitched again, and she smacked a hand over it as realization of what she was about to do hit her.

A sneeze.

"No no no no no—Watermelon! Pineapple!" She fought the growing urge with a nasal voice before it passed. Tears formed at the downward corners of her eyes. After several moments, she finally unplugged her nose.

The moment after she exhaled, she inhaled sharply, then let out a series of sneezes with incredible force, and each knocked her around doll-like until they finally stopped. She yanked a tissue from her pocket and shoved it over her nose as she squinted to restrain more as the dust stirred by her fit threatened to do it again.

It took some time before her sneezes passed, and the bed was 'miraculously' cleared of most of its dust enough that she could be there without stirring up more. The small woman wiped the snot from her face, eyes still closed. Another tissue wiped at her teary eyes.

"Excuse me," she uttered in a shaking voice, then looked up. She half-expected him to have disappeared, and his continued presence relieved her. "I... need to sleep. Hopefully I did not send away anyone important."

Finally, she laid back down with a small shudder as she felt the urge still to keep sneezing, but it wasn't a true urge so much as the echo of her previous.

Several people in town disappeared without a trace, though: one of whom was in the middle of town babbling on about the monster who killed and drank blood from a group of strange men in blue.

Jade's sinuses ached, but she forced herself to rest, and wondered if she would somehow gain contact while unconscious, or if she would dream.

Dreams won in the end.

She relived the second war. A pregnant woman injected by a syringe began to steam as her blood cooked her from within while her heart's beat carried death through her and even to the unborn child. Jade screamed, but all that emerged was silence. Needles drove at Jade, stabbing every part of her. Three pinned each of her eyelids wide open, and six stabbed through her eyes themselves.

All at once, the needles injected fire.

A man spoke, his voice familiar but unknown: "It's not luck, it's just perfect planning. You could never win against us. You're an infant, and you killed the ones who could have saved you."

A woman with her same face, but more height and curve appeared before Jade as she burned, and the needles finally pulled from her, except the ones that held her eyes open were replaced with hooks. A teal blur yanked the taller twin's head upright, then pressed a gun up and into Topaz's cheek as the sleeping woman hung, unable to wake despite twitching fingers. Twelve infants, each dead, stood between the pair, and as the blur pulled the trigger, nothing happened to Topaz, but pain blossomed instead through Jade's head.

The world bled into red and black as she fell, and then fell through the ground. Everything fell apart. She groaned and reached out, trying to grab threads, to beg in the silence. "Do not move on! I am not dead, do not move on! Let them live a short time more!"

Silence met her, but the threads moved to her hands. "Take from me all you need to survive this trauma, even a little longer, just a tiny bit longer. Please... It is drawing out the suffering, but our denizens...!"

An orb came together and the threads wove, and the ends snapped suddenly into Jade. Reality turned dim as she felt drained almost dry.

Outside of her dreams, the whimpering, leaky-eyed little bird twitched and flinched, and then finally gasped awake with a single word: "Failed!"

Eyes wide, she stared forward at the foreign room, panting as her eyes refused to focus and her mind struggled to catch up. She scrambled to the far corner of the bed with a shudder and covered her head in her arms.

Outside, A Hunter's knuckle rested an inch from the door. Concern grew as the stink of her terror grew, and he shoved the door open, uncaring whether it was locked or not. "rrRRStupid girl, why did you come!?" A wild mane of yellow contrasted with a red hat and shirt and nosebleed, and he ran to the girl, then grabbed her arm and pulled it from her face. "What'd that thing do, huh?" He directed a snarling glare at Feng, but a tiny foot shot from Jade and slammed his jaw.

The Hunter blinked rapidly as stars filled his vision briefly before he looked at Jade, who seemed to finally have some recollection of where the hell she was.

"That—He. He is an ally," she managed as she pulled her arm from the Hunter. "Hunter Violi. Traveler Feng." The introduction was brief as Jade gripped her braids. "Where is Hunter Aspa?"

Violi glared again at Feng and shifted between Jade and the man he didn't recognize, but he seemed calmer for the kick, which left no mark except the dirt from her shoe.

"Hunter Violi. Where is your partner?"

He looked toward her again and huffed. "She's here, just keeping distance. You know."

Jade nodded as she looked from Violi to Feng. "Apologies. Hunter Violi is obnoxious."

"Last time you described it as 'passionate'."

"You did not almost rip a door from its frame last time."
 
"Gesundheit." Feng told her once she stopped sneezing. His own nose had been tickled a few times by the dust, but he knew how to move so that the dust didn't whirl around too much. Let's just say this wasn't the first time he had forgotten to visit his home in a long time.

Her comment was quite perplexing. Sending away someone? What was she on about now? He didn't bother asking though and just continued his lonely little drinking party.

Feng was quite bored. All he could do was to listen to the young woman's sleep habits, trying to figure out her dreams simply by the way she moved in the bed and by the things she might mumble or by the small sounds she might make. That was often the ways he spent his time when he was bored, he just listened to whatever was around him and tried to figure out what it was, what it meant or in case of humans, what they were thinking. Some games were harder than others.

Then suddenly, the door was almost broken open. "What the?" He rose as a man ran in, being very accusing towards the immortal. At least until he got a foot slammed in his jaw.

"I wouldn't particularly call it obnoxious. Our first meeting was obnoxious, this one was more... Rude and improper." Feng replied, never even realizing he had just called the lady obnoxious. It was just things that came out of him. Comparisons were the greatest ways of explaining things so that people could understand them. "But I don't expect anything else from young people." Young was a very muddy concept for Feng. It was more a state of mind rather than an actual age. Especially when speaking about people who lived longer than the average person. Even a 90 year old was technically young compared to the immortal.

"So, are you gonna head back now when your pups have found you?" He asked. It didn't sound as if he wanted to throw he out, nor did it sound as if he wanted her to stay. It was just a flat question, wondering what her intentions were from here on.
 
Jade's eyes jerked toward Feng, but her expression did not change. He thought she was obnoxious? Probably best to leave him be, then. She didn't consider him wrong for thinking her young, though—not even fifty years old, and she was doing too much.

Still though, his question of what came next surprised her. She turned her head towards him fully. "I am trapped in this world, I cannot 'head back' until the Unifiers and their shielding are removed from this universe." Jade thought she explained this to him before, but apparently not well enough. As far as what did come now, she had little choice but to stay with her Hunters and hope they reconvened when they realized their phones weren't working.

Violi watched Feng, gaze suspicious as he kept himself between Jade and the immortal.

Finally, Jade looked toward the Hunter. "Could you ask Hunter Aspa to come in? She is..."

"She sticks out, I know," Violi kept his gaze on Feng as he went to the door and waved, and then he took back his former position.

"And stop snarling."

Violi grunted and dropped the 'threatening' expression, but remained sour.

Finally, a woman in a similar jacket entered. Her skin was far more grey-toned than a living person's, and had an odd texture where it was visible: only her face and hands. Her hair, blue-green, was chin-length, and her eyes hid behind a large, dark visor. Rather than a modest dress or pants, she wore a skin-tight bodysuit. The zipper extended from the collar and ended somewhere beyond Feng's view after it went between her legs.

"Lady Jade, I am glad we found you." Like Jade, she spoke with no emotion, but there was less of a monotone to her. A tiny flick of a smile appeared before something made her stumble, and she looked around before her eyes landed on Feng. "Oh. You're..." She leaned heavily against the wall.
 
Hmm.. He must have misunderstood then. He had believed the other hunters could still travel, but apparently it had been a bit more complicated than that. Oh well. "I see, it seems like I misunderstood the situation earlier then." He simply replied, not seeming to bothered by it.

This so called man was acting like an overly clingy child. My mom, don't touch! Stranger danger! It was almost amusing to watch. Especially since Feng hadn't done any attempts to move from his spot since he rose from his seat. He wondered what would happen if he actually decided to move closer to the two. Would he attack? Feng was almost curious enough to try it out... Almost.

Another woman came in, this one, rather than having an outrageous attitude, was wearing mind baffling clothes. What even was that? People of their dimension seemed to have no common sense whatsoever.

"Not important." He answered the woman.

"Since your friends are here now, I'll just go look for Joe. If you need that shield down, his map should come in handy. Feel free to take a drink while I'm gone, if you feel like it."
 
"Thank you, Traveler Feng," Jade nodded.

Aspa watched Feng for several moments, then moved out of his path. "Thank you for caring for our Lady until now," she said as she offered a brief inclination of her head. Her visor slid forward along her nose to reveal a glimpse of black sclera with yellow irises and slitted pupils that watched him before she hurriedly pushed the visor back into place. The pink of her blush offered stark contrast to her pale, grey skin.

Violi huffed, which earned him a brief glare from Jade. "What?" The snarl behind his words was unrestrained.

The tiny woman's answer was a simple sigh initially before she spoke. "Hunter Violi, please cease the attitude," she began as Feng left, "I was not aware you liked me enough to be protective."

"What!?" Violi stared at her. "Idiot child. I still don't think you're fit to rule us doesn't mean I think you should get hurt. The fuck kind of Hunter wouldn't be protective of a kid, anyway!?" A snarl entered his voice.

"Hm." Jade's gaze softened, and she patted the Hunter's head. "I am young, but I do think I am at least no longer a child. I do appreciate that you do not dislike me."

The two continued to speak for a short time until Jade urged Violi to see to centering Aspa, which apparently involved looking at her and slowly taking a peaceful expression.

Outside of Feng's house, a few Unifier soldiers stalked the neighborhood. One glanced toward Feng, but none questioned his presence. They occasionally spoke in quiet voices as they touched their ears. If Feng went close enough, he could overhear their report: 'no new sightings on my position'.

One soldier placed a hand to her ear. "Requesting situation update." She withdrew her hand and returned her attention to the area around her before she touched her ear again. "Understood."

She noticed Feng and tilted her head, then offered a brief wave as her partner looked in the other direction. A quick nudge from her elbow, and he followed her over to Feng. Once both stood before him, they stood at parade rest, and the woman was the first to speak: "Hello, sir. My name is Private Cathy Shears, and this is Private Jules Mordin. Sorry to intrude on your day, but since you seem to be a resident, I thought it best to introduce myself and my companion. We and our organization will be in your neighborhood for an unknown amount of time. We hope not to disturb your routine, but some conflicts may be inevitable. If there is any way we may help make your life easier, please don't hesitate to ask for assistance from any among us."

Her warm voice offered a pleasant tone to the introduction, though her padded-looking clothing gave her a mannish appearance.

"With that out of the way," she added, "I noticed your house has been dark all day. I hope I'm not being too nosy, but do you start work late?"

"Getting personal, Shears," her partner warned.

Cathy scowled, then shook her head, but addressed Feng instead of her partner. "Sorry. Back home, my brother worked nights and was always tired. You look a little like him. I like to write to him about the people I meet."

Jules smirked and rolled his eyes as subtly as he could, then mouthed to Feng 'run while you can.'
 
Feng escaped their conversation as fast as possible without running. These people were such a bother. That guy should be more quiet, otherwise people will get that the house isn't empty. Why the heck did he think it was so dark in there anyways?

Suddenly, some strangers stopped him in his tracks. He hadn't payed enough attention to even notice their presence before they approached him. "An easy life is a unbearably boring life, so please don't bother." He replied. If he now would be forced to live, at the very least, it shouldn't be easy. That's when you ended up in an endless circle of eating, sleeping and staring into the distance wondering what the heck you're doing with your life. He had gone through too many years of that already. Though too hard was also a bit bothersome.

"I work whenever it pleases me and I can see perfectly well without wasting oil or wax during daytime. It's best to save up for winter when it will be darker and you won't be able to see without them." He explained, wondering what those two were up to. It was quite a coincidence that they were part of an organization that might stir up the daily routines of people in town. Could they be hunters? Could they be unifiers? Feng weren't going to make the same mistake as last time, so he would just treat them as random strangers being in town. The kind he would generally ignored if he could.

"If you excuse me, I've got some work to do. The rats won't chase themselves." Feng told them and started walking past them. They certainly seemed rather friendly, but he was old enough to know how deceiving people could be when they had a plan.

He walked a bit faster than he probably should have, but he did want to get away from those two as fast as possible since he had no clue who they might be. Soon he arrived at a house slightly bigger than his own. That's where underground Joe usually resided. With the right information, people could get quite a lot of money apparently.

As Feng touched the door, it slid open, not having been closed properly. The room he entered was quite a mess, as if someone had robbed the place but then run off without taking a single thing. Odd. A sound was heard from the second room and Feng ran towards it. Opening the door, he saw Joe getting dragged up on his feet, just having been beaten quite badly. The small man caught sight of Feng before he was able to move and shouted "That's the man you want, I swear I know nothing, he on the other hand has been going towards the unapproachable many times!"

That little snitch. Feng was running before he knew it. But to where should he run? Back to the house? Over there he would put that obnoxious woman into danger, and he knew a few people who would give him hell for that. It was just to move forward until he either got away or could find a good spot to hide without them noticing. The manhole lids were way too heavy for him to get down unnoticed fast enough, so that solution was out of the question!
 
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